


Reconciliation

by beloved_key



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Panic Attacks, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beloved_key/pseuds/beloved_key
Summary: Okay, okay, it had been a stupid move to pull, Lance knew that, Shiro was right, okay?!? He knew he never should’ve been so reckless, so showy, especially not when an entire planet’s worth of people were depending on Voltron’s cohesion to distract the Galra long enough to allow them to evacuate. He knew if the Blue Lion fell, even temporarily, it would’ve spelt doom for the evacuating population. He knew he could’ve cost thousands of people their lives. He knew, with sickening clarity.So why did Shiro have to yell at him, on top of it all, when he already knew?





	Reconciliation

Lance wasn’t sure he could remember the last time his heart had beat this fast.

 

He felt shaky, flushed hot, chest tight, stomach roiling, and vision sliding in and out of focus. He wanted nothing more than to find somewhere cool and safe to curl up and slow his breathing, but unfortunately Lance was stuck here for the foreseeable future. Even more unfortunately, the reason for his panic was also the reason why he was stuck here.

 

Okay, okay, it had been a stupid move to pull, Lance knew that, Shiro was  _ right _ , okay?!? He knew he never should’ve been so reckless, so showy, especially not when an entire  _ planet’s _ worth of people were depending on Voltron’s cohesion to distract the Galra long enough to allow them to evacuate. He knew if the Blue Lion fell, even temporarily, it would’ve spelt doom for the evacuating population. He knew he could’ve cost thousands of people their lives. He knew, with sickening clarity.

  
So why did Shiro have to yell at him, on top of it all, when he already knew?

 

“Are you even listening to me?!?” Shiro’s incredulous tone pierced through Lance’s concentration, causing his vision to blur dangerously again. “Well, Lance?”

 

“I’m gonna pass out.” Lance breathed, eyes wide and staring as he tried to will them back into focus.

 

“What did you say?!?”

 

“I’m gonna pass out.” He managed a strangled whisper this time, loud enough for Shiro to hear him. Unfortunately, it didn’t yield the response Lance had hoped for.

 

“I don’t think so, cadet. Your armor scans showed no signs of damage, you’re not getting out of this that easily!” Lance almost wanted to cry. “Lance, you’re better than this, you know better than this, I can’t believe you’d be so downright careless--”

 

Lance’s hearing went muffled as his legs buckled against his weight. The end of Shiro’s reprimand was lost to the roaring in Lance’s ears as his vision blurred one last time, and finally went black.

 

\---

 

Shiro’s mind was running itself in a vicious circle of excuses and dismissals.

 

_ “Our mission was important, lives were on the line--” _ __   
_   
_ __ “Lives are always on the line, you never felt the need to tear into any of them like that before--”

_ “This was higher stakes than before--” _ __   
__   
_ “Bullshit, you’ve run evacuations before--” _ __   
__   
_ “That kind of behavior was unusual for Lance--” _ __   
_   
_ __ “So you had to ‘stamp it out’ instead of, oh, I don’t know, asking him what was wrong?”

_ “That shot grazed the cockpit, he could’ve died--” _ __   
__   
_ “You really think you know that better than Lance, he was there!” _ __   


_ “I was so scared I’d lost him--” _ __   
_   
_ __ “So you yelled him into a panic attack and ignored him when he tried to warn you he was about to pass out?”

_ “It was important he understand--” _ __   
_   
_ __ “Yelling has never worked with Lance, and when has he ever tried to skip out on responsibility when it’s truly important, like now?”

 

Shiro moaned and pressed his fists into his eyes. He was sat by Lance’s bedside, where he’d deposited the fainted paladin as soon as his mind had caught up with events. Shiro doubted he’d ever forget the expressions on the others’ faces when he’d explained what happened; Pidge’s shock that it had gone that far, Keith’s disbelief that Shiro would do something like that, and worst of all, Hunk’s dull disappointment, his flat assertion that Iverson had gotten Lance to nearly that point a few times at the Garrison, but never managed to make Lance actually pass out.

 

Even Iverson, judgemental, merciless drill sergeant that he was, was better than Shiro. Hunk hadn’t said it out loud, but they all knew that’s what he was thinking. Shiro had seen Hunk’s mean side come out when his friends were threatened. He’d never thought he’d have it directed at him.

 

He’d never thought he’d  _ deserve _ to have it directed at him.

 

Before Shiro could descend any further into that particular self-punishing rabbit hole, Lance stirred in his bed, wincing and cracking his eyes open.

 

“Lance? Buddy, you okay?” Shiro leaned forward, eyes wide as Lance glanced around, confused. “How’re you feeli--”

 

Lance spotted Shiro and flinched. Ice shot through the Black Paladin’s chest.

 

Wary. Afraid. Of course. Shiro shouldn’t have expected anything less.

 

He didn’t deserve anything less.

 

“I-I’m sorry, I…” Shiro took a steadying breath. “I shouldn’t have--yelling at you, I mean, I should’ve listened, you… I-I’ll leave you alone. I’ll… Get Hunk, or-or anyone, really, I’ll--”

 

“Wait, I’m sorry!” Lance cried out, sitting up and wincing as his head protested the motion. Without thinking, Shiro gently eased him back down onto the bed.

 

Lance looked at him, expression unreadable. Shiro blushed, pulling back. “You shouldn’t sit up too quickly.” He murmured, avoiding eye contact.

 

Lance nodded, bringing a hand to his head. “Um, yeah…” He took a steadying breath. “I’m sorry, about before. It was stupid of me, and put the whole team at risk, and the refugees at risk, and… I’m sorry.”

 

Shiro blinked, sitting back down in his confusion. “Wait, what--no, I’m sorry, I should’ve listened to you, you wouldn’t have passed out if I’d just listened when you tried to tell me.” Shiro glanced away, laughing bitterly. “I shouldn’t have even been yelling at you, I know better than that, I-I just… You scared me, I was scared you’d died when I saw that shot graze Blue, and it took you awhile to respond…”

 

Lance’s eyes widened in surprise, but Shiro didn’t notice. “That doesn’t excuse it, of course, I should have more self-control than that. I’m sorry. Yelling at you like that, ignoring you… It wasn’t fair to you. I know you better than to think you’d try to get out of talking about what happened, even if you didn’t deserve how harsh I was being. I’m so sorry, Lance. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

 

Shiro waited, head bowed, to be sent from the room, told that wasn’t good enough, or any other justified response from Lance. He knew he wouldn’t like it. He knew he didn’t deserve a response he liked.

 

“Dude, there are better ways to tell me you were worried about me.”

 

Shiro’s head shot up to meet Lance’s amused expression. “I mean, seriously, that was such a mom move.” The Blue Paladin continued, smirking. “If I hadn’t passed out, would you have eventually worked yourself into the stereotypical ‘I’m just glad you’re okay’?”

 

Shiro blinked. “Um… Probably, yeah.”

 

Lance had the audacity to actually giggle. “Space Dad. Amazing.” His expression shifted to something more serious. “I think we can agree that we both screwed up today, but now we know better, and we’ll do better next time, right?”

  
Shiro frowned. “Um… Right?”

 

“So let’s stop berating ourselves and agree to let bygones be bygones?”

 

Shiro blushed, glancing away. Was he really that obvious?

 

“You don’t have to forgive me that easily, you know.” He muttered, reluctantly making eye contact. “It was a pretty dick move, yelling at you like that.”

 

To Shiro’s shock, Lance just shrugged. “I’ve never been one much for holding a grudge. Now we should probably go find the others, before Hunk puts something nasty in your dinner or something.”

  
Shiro chuckled, helping Lance to his feet. On an impulse, he pulled the younger Paladin into a tight hug.

 

“I’m sorry.” He breathed.

 

Lance stiffened, then relaxed, hugging back. “Me too.”

 

Dinner that night tasted about the same as usual. Then again, Lance did take it upon himself to supervise Hunk’s cooking, just in case.

**Author's Note:**

> Started out strong, but I'm not super into the ending. Idk. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment/kudos! Love you!


End file.
